Tax day: tally war costs

Today isn't just Tax Day. It's also the Global Day of Action on Military Spending. People around the world mark the occasion by protesting the vast resources allocated to militaries.

According to a new report by the National Priorities Project, of every tax dollar the federal government collects, 26.5 cents goes to the Pentagon. A single penny goes to science, 1.4 cents to transportation, 2.1 cents to energy and the environment, and 3.5 cents to education.

One reason the Pentagon soaks up so much is its exorbitant weapon systems. Take the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A decade after parts manufacturing began, it's still not deployed. Experts say that by the time it's been operable for a few decades, the F-35 will have cost in the neighborhood of $1.5 trillion.

There are many hidden Pentagon costs as well.

The government spends $40 billion each year caring for our veterans and family members. A recent Associated Press report revealed just how much we are paying for wars fought generations ago - and foreshadows how much we will still be paying generations from now.

We still pay benefits to family members of World War I veterans. In a few isolated cases, family members of veterans of the Spanish-American War and Civil War are still collecting payments, too.

Benefits to Vietnam veterans continue to rise, even though that conflict ended four decades ago. Today we pay $22 billion a year to these vets and their families. We pay a little more than half of that, $12 billion annually, to veterans and their family members who served in the Iraq conflicts or Afghanistan.

The Vietnam War serves as a warning when we try to assess expenses tied to the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. World War II ended 68 years ago, yet it costs taxpayers $5 billion a year. The cost of the benefits paid to its veterans didn't peak until 1991, the AP reported.

Remarkably, the Vietnam War's costs are still rising. The benefits paid to its veterans and their family members stand at $270 billion since 1970. Using World War II and Vietnam as yardsticks, we can probably expect the government-paid health care costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to rise for another four decades before they peak between 2050 and 2060. We've paid more than $50 billion since 2003.

No one denies that our veterans and their family members deserve it.

This Tax Day we should be aware of this cost of war. We should stop waging so many wars and demand that we stop paying for things we can't afford so we can afford health care and survivors' benefits.

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.

Think you have the cutest pet in NEPA? Share a photo of your furry companion and you could win prizes from our sponsors! Deadline to submit an entry is March 19, and voting will take place from March 20-March 31.